Improved railway-car seat



A. BARBARIN.

Car Seat.

Patented Juiy 13, 1869.

a W e L 1K sited firmin silent my in.

ARTHUR. BARBARlN, on NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

Letters Patent No. 92,418, dated July 13, 1869.

IMPROVED RAILWAYCAR SEAT.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom it may concern:

ment as will enable me to convert every two contiguons seats into abed or couch, with an inclined head-rest, on which two passengers may comfortably recline and sleep, and thus practically to effect the conversion of ordinary passenger-cars into sleeping-cars.

My improvement consists of a simple mechanical arrangement,- and not in the creation of any new parts,

strictly so to speak, which arrangement will be better and more quickly understood by referring to the drawin g, .whereon- Figure 1 shows two seats provided with my improvement, as when the backs of the same occupy a proper position for sitting-passengers.

Figure 2, the same seats, as when the hack of one is turned down, so as to fill the space between the two, and the back of the other is thrown back at an angle of about thirty degrees with respect to the plane of the seats, in order to afibrd a head-rest In other words, fig. 2 represents two seats of a car, as when converted into a bed or couch through the agency of my invention.

Figures 3, 4, and 5, are'detached views of the principal parts that enter into my arrangement, or of which it is composed; and

Figure 6, one end of a seat detached,in order to show its interior face, and the point 'at which what I call my guide-bracket is attached thereto.

In my improvement, the backs are connectedto the seats by means of the slotted straight bars A, and two pins or a, the one, a, seeming the bar to the centre of the back, and the other, a, securing it to the end vor ends of the seat, for there being two bars to each seat, there are, of course,'two pins a, and two pins a, employed in connection therewith.

The pins a a, passing through. round holes in the bars, as shown at b, fig. 5, allow of the free articulation of the bars, and hence may be said to constitute, jointly, an axis on which the back of each seat may revolve in either direction, and thus be made to take the position shown at fig. 2, or that shown at fig. 1, at pleasure, provided the connection of the lower end of the said bars with the seats be of such character as to allow of it.

In order that this connection may be of this character, it is made by means of the pins 0. a, and the cross-slots c c in the bars A. (See fig. 5.)

The elongation of the slot 0 allows of the elevation of the backs of each seat, and consequently foran increased radius of its circular sweep around the pins It'd, and therefore provides for the placing of the backs, as shown by the back B at fig. 2.

In order to secure a close fitting of the backs between the seats, when placed as shown by B at fig. 2, they should always be made just wide enough to'fill the space between the seats, and the lower extremity of the slots 0 should be precisely at that point which ever the backs are brought into that position.

And furthermore, to maintain the backs in the same plane with the seats, narrow strips, 0, must be atshown at figs. 1 and 2. I

The cross-slots 0' provide a means for placing the backs as shown at figz. 1;, and by the back 1), at iig..2,v for it is only necessary to place the edge of the backs on the strips 0, to secure them in the position shown at fig. 1, and to lift them up, and throw forward their lower edges, to secure them in. the position appropri: ate for a head-rest, as shown by the back D at fig. 2.

This position of the back practically extends the length of the bed, snfiiciently to accommodate the tallest man, whilst yet preventing any possibility of annoyance from the feet of the passengers on the next conch.

The guide-brackets E e e, which are made. in sections, as shown .at, figs. 3, 4, and 6, and of wood or metal, as convenience may'dictate, and which are placed a few inches below the pins 0. a, support the lower extremities of the bars 0, when the backs occupy either the position shown at fig. 1, or that shown by D at fig. 2, and efieotualIy,p1'e\'ent the displacement of the same, except by design.

It will thus be seen that my improvement fulfils the object designed by me in the completest manner; that it is of the simplest possible nature; and thatit is cheap, easily made, and applied either to seats made expressly with reference to it, or to existing seats of almost every variety of construction.

I do not claim, broadly, the conversion of the seats of ordinarypassenger-cars into beds or couches for sleeping-purposes, for I am aware this is not new; but having thus described my invention,

W'hat I- do claim, and desire 'to secure by Letters Patent, is-- The combination of the slotted straight bars Awith a railroad-car seat, when the two are conjoined, as herein described, and the former is supported by the guide-brackets E e c, and the latter is provided with the strips 0, and all the parts are constructed and operate substantially as herein described.

, ARTHUR BARBARIN. Witnesses:

Burns It. Rnonns,

H. N. JENKINS.

will bring the pins ct c in cont-act therewith, whentached .to both sides of each seat, substantially as 

